Author's Note: This first chapter is a little slow, but it'll pick up soon.
Disclaimer: I own no-one, except for Becca. :-)
Just as the sunlight started to peak through the window, the annoying buzz of the alarm clock filled the room. Elliot jumped and reached over his wife, Becca's sleeping form in order to shut it off. He let out a groan and stretched, as he felt her stir.
"I vote that we both call in sick." She groaned.
"I can't do that." Elliot replied. "Everytime I do..Cragen gives me 'the boy who cried wolf' lecture."
"Urgh. I can't call off either. I have court today." She said, as she sat up. She brushed her hair out of her face and crossed her legs into an indian style position.
"Well, I'm definatly not jealous.." He said, lovingly stroking her arm. "Tough case?"
Becca was a social worker for the city. Usually stressed by trying to find a place to foster children who were usually abused or molested. Elliot and her had met during a case that they had worked on together, about three months after his divorce was finalized. The two of them fell in love within six months and were married, now expecting a child together.
Becca let out a trouble sigh. "Cynthia Smith...a heroin addict who sold her six year old daughter for a hit. I'm sure you can imagine what the drug dealer did to the little girl." She explained, as she laid her head on his chest. "The judge is gonna decide if she should be able to get her daughter back, today."
Elliot's jaw clenched. "What do you think?"
"Personally, I think she's still on drugs. I've tried my best to help her, even helped get her into rehab. She was doing so good for awhile." Her voice strengthened as she sat up, again. "That little girl though...I checked in on her yesterday at the foster home. She wants to go home with her mommy, so bad. But...is Cynthia gonna do something like that again?" She glanced down at him, as he listened intetively. "And..you hear this all the time..with almost every case." She smiled slightly. "Sorry."
"It's alright." He sat up, planting a kiss on her lips. "Nothing to be sorry about. Just remember that you can't fix everybody, babe. Trust me, I know how it feels to see stuff like that and not be able to do anything about it."
"I know. I know."
"I'm gonna go hop in the shower." He said as he kissed her deeply. She rested her hand on his cheek as she kissed him back, then pecked several kisses on his lips as he pulled away.
"Coffee?"
"Yes, please." He said, before disappearing into the bathroom.
After putting a pot of coffee on, Becca returned to the bedroom. She smiled at the reflection of her belly in the mirror, as she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She was in the middle of making the bed, when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"Good morning, Kathy."
"Good morning. How ya feeling?"
"Great. Thanks for asking. You?"
"Good."
"The kids?"
"Great. Is Elliot there?"
"He's in the shower." She said, as she dug through the closet for the day's outfit.
"Can you let him know that Kathleen's parent/teacher meeting is at six tomorrow?"
"Sure. I think he knows already, though." She said, as she dressed.
"He knew that the meeting was at seven, but it was changed to six."
"Oh. Yeah, I'll let him know."
"Thanks Becca. I'll see you Friday when I drop the kids off. Take care, hun."
"You too. Bye." She clicked the phone off as she felt Elliot's arms wrap around her.
"Who was that?" He asked, planting a row of kisses on her neck.
"Kathy."
"And?"
"Kathleen's parent/teacher meeting is at six tomorrow, instead of seven."
"Oh, okay. Got it."
She turned around and pecked a kiss onto his lips. "You get dressed. I gotta check my email." She said, leaving the room.
"You're thirty-three minutes late." Olivia Benson greeted her partner, as he threw his coat down on his desk.
"What the hell is with traffic today?" Elliot growled.
"Traffic my ass." Munch chimed in, as he looked up from a stack of paperwork.
Elliot replied by rolling his eyes and showing a sarcastic smile.
"Did you get some sleep?" Olivia asked, nodding towards her partner.
"Yeah, about four or five hours." He replied, flipping through the paperwork on his desk. "Has the lab called about the Jensen case?"
"Not yet. Probably later this afternoon." She replied, pulling her chair out and sitting in it. "How's Becca?"
"Great." An immediate smile formed.
"Don't smile too much now, Elliot." Munch said. "This is your second wife...you're gonna end up like me and eventually make it to a fourth."
"Um..how about, no?"
"You say that now."
"I can promise you that."
"Finally decide to join us, Elliot?" Cragen asked, as he emerged out of his office with Fin in tow.
"Good morning to you too, Captain." He replied, crossing his arms and leaning against his desk. By looking at the look on Cragen's face, he could tell that he wasn't in a good mood.
"You and Olivia are catching today. Fin and Munch are stuck on desk duty."
"You alright?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Cragen replied. "I've just got two detectives that are on the verge of being in contempt of court, cause we're drowing in paperwork." He said, eyeing Munch and Fin.
"What?" Munch replied, looking up from his pen and paper. "I'm workin'. I swear."
"You better be."
Cragen handed a slip of paper to Elliot. "Homicide called about ten minutes ago. There was a murder on 29th street. They were cleaning up the crime scene when some lady came running out of her apartment screaming that her daughter's being molested. Go check it out." He said, disappearing back into his office.
Elliot slipped on his coat as he followed Olivia out.